Huntley Castle, Cheadle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Croft

In the civil parish of Cheadle.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK00644134
Latitude 52.96928° Longitude -1.99236°

Huntley Castle, Cheadle has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

The earthwork in the grounds of Huntley Hall, although not mentioned by Plot is shewn as an 'ancient fortification' on a map dated 1682, which is bound up with Plot's 'History' (Bridgeman 1926).
The field adjoining it is shewn as 'Castle Croft' - by which name it was still known in the 1860's. The site of this mound is well-known to Mr Plant but has for many years been used for dumping gravel and waste materials from the nearby quarries with the result that the mound is completely buried beneath the dump. Mr Plant stated that there had been a brick-culvert built into one side of the mound before its burial. Older residents in the district maintained that the mound was a large spoil-heap from the cutting of the road through the natural rock in the area centred at SK 0070 4085 but this seems hardly probable if the mound was shown by Plot. Enquiry at the offices of the gravel company established that it is not their intention to remove any of the dumped material within the forseeable future. No identifiable trace of the mound is visible - the field-name Castle-croft would indicate that it was a motte (F1 WW 28-JAN-57). (PastScape)

A flat topped, earthwork mound once identified as a medieval motte, but now thought to be of possible natural origin. (Staffordshire HER)
Natural sand flat topped circular mound, formerly described and scheduled as a medieval motte. Two sections cleaned and no archaeological features. Descheduled (Verbal communication: R.A. Meeson (Staffordshire County Council). 1980 - 2000. Comments on sites in Staffordshire by R.A. Meeson. 1984).
Not listed by Cantor as a castle.
The earthwork is not mentioned by Robert Plot (1686), but 'an ancient fortification' is shown on the map which is bound up with Plot's 'History of Staffordshire'. The field adjoining the mound is shown as 'Castle Croft', by which name it was still known in the 1860s
The North Staffordshire Field Club visited the site in 1915 (when the earthwork had been newly discovered). The mound stood at the highest point of the Huntley Hall estate. No stones had been found on the site and thus it was proposed that it was a Norman motte upon which had stood a timber building (Huntbach 1915-16).
Site visit by the Ordnance Survey Inspector in 1957. The site of the mound was well known to the farmer, but had been used as a dumping ground for gravel and waste materials from the nearby quarries with the result that the mound is completely buried beneath the dump. The farmer also stated that a brick culvert had been built into one side of the mound before its burial. No identifiable traces of the mound is visible, although the placename Castle Croft may indicate a motte (FI William Woodhouse 28/11/1957). (Staffordshire HER)

Comments

Appears to have been reassessed as natural and then descheduled.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 305435.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00039.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 21
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 452
Periodical Articles
- Cantor, Leonard, 1966, 'The Medieval Castles of Staffordshire' North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies Vol. 6 p. 38-46
  Bridgeman, 1926, William Salt Archaeological Society Vol. 50 p. 153-65 (of no great value)
  Huntbach, A., 1915-16, Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club Vol. 50 p. 158-9
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Plot, Robert, 1686, The Natural History of Staffordshire

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Descheduled
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio